Kids can be so cruel – just ask Lesley Joseph.

The Birds of a Feather star can’t wait to get nasty on the New Victoria stage after landing the Wicked Queen role in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

But even though she loves playing the baddie at panto time – oh yes she does – it turns out this mischievous monarch is not as tough as she appears.

“Playing a Fairy Godmother is fun but I do prefer playing a baddie,” said Lesley before this Friday’s opener.

“But one thing about playing the Wicked Queen is that it can get quite difficult when you’ve got schools’ matinee because they really do boo.

“There’s a little bit of pulling the strings and you can manipulate them a bit. That’s another reason why I love doing panto because you can work with an audience.”

The word ‘love’ featured a lot when the News & Mail interviewed Lesley about her role in the NVT panto alongside the broadcaster and barrister Rob Rinder.

The latter is The Man in the Mirror while impressionist Aaron James plays Muddles and West End stars Scott Maurice and Briana Craig are The Prince and Snow White.

It’s almost like coming home for Lesley as she’s graced the NVT stage a few times and is familiar with everyone involved. She and Rob both became friends on Strictly while she offered him help when he made his first foray into pantomime around a decade ago.

She said: “It’s really good we all know each other well and it makes for an easy rehearsal period.

“The thing about Rob is there’s nothing he can’t do as he sings beautifully, he’s great on stage and the audiences love him. He’s great to work with.”

During our interview Lesley enthuses about the quality of the script and the magic of panto with its sets, costumes, fabulous dancers and tailor-made parts. Everyone is in it “for the right reasons” while excitement is building with the big night approaching.

Lesley added: “I love it because whole families come and it’s important to make sure you bring kids so they’ll carry on coming, hopefully, for the rest of their lives.

“What’s also lovely that if things go wrong you talk to the audience, the fourth wall is broken down, so that makes things incredibly easy.

“Things have gone wrong before, let’s face it. A scene will get stuck or you forget your line, but the audience will sometimes love it when that happens.”

There’s a quick mention about Lesley’s love for Woking, its theatre and the crowd as we wrap things up.

“They’re a really good crowd in Woking and they know what they like – I really like the theatre,” said Lesley,

“I also love the fact that when you walk out the stage door that you’re surrounded by shops. It’s a very easy way of doing all your Christmas shopping.”

This Friday’s show is a sell-out, for tickets and timings of further performances look for Woking on https://www.atgtickets.com/